First of all, forgive me as I`m a little jaded. This is because it`s the 2nd time I`m typing this. After typing for some 20 minutes, my post wasn`t processed. A pure pain in the arse!
Ahem.....Okay, here come the impressions!
I played this in the arcade in Kyoto on Thursday, so my experiences are fairly new. I used the new characters Olof, Buntaro, Shintaro, Hikaru and one of the old characters, Keith.
Olof gets cool points in my book. He reminds me of the tall black guy from the Bruce Lee film: Game of Death. He has a cool laugh and only uses his legs when attacking (or so I thought. Just pull of his max super to see otherwise!) Anyway, he`s caught my attention and I believe I`ll be busing him again soon (nice design Atlus/Noise Factory buttrock !)
Buntaro reminds me of a hyperactive gingerbread man. He`s meant to be a street punk-esque dude, but everytime he does his kickflip I can`t help but make that connection! Also, when he does one of his attacks he screams like Micheal Jackson. Gangsters are meant to sound like Yamazaki, not friggin` Micheal Jackson loco ! Atlus, improve this character please!
Shintaro has the same costume as Buntaro, just a palette change (and some other minor changes.) His moves come off as unispiring for me and this also reflects in his character. Atlus, please make this charcter more interesting
!
Hikaru is a potentially good character. A boy (I think) with a cane, I regard the character as a potentially good rival to the main character, Kurara. His weak super is a rip-off of Haomaru`s in SS4, but that doesn`t become a problem. If only his voice wasn`t so high-pitched and squeaky! (He sounds like a she; and a very young she at that!) With some more development this character for me can become quite cool I believe. here`s hoping
!
Keith is reminiscent of Billy and Jimmy from ROTD, yet he`s still different enough to be regarded as a good character. He has a cool look, and like Pepe from ROTD, makes overalls look cool buttrock (well at least I think they`re overalls!)
Gameplay is okay. There aren`t so many chances to do massive combos, but I accept that Matrimelee doesn`t attempt to be this way. An annoying thing is that everytime a character gains a super gauge they do like a rage exposion. At this point they are invunerable and if the other character attempts to hit/touch them, they get blown back. It becomes a pain in the arse when fighting Princess Sissy as her moves allow her to gain super gauges at a rapid rate. It slighty hinders play as if matches have a set time limit they will probably end with time out due to this restriction. Slighty annoying, but bearable
.
Graphics on special moves could be improved. Round intros, supers and K.O.s are impressive enough and I`m pleased by these. Backgrounds have lots of detail and definitely contribute to the overall quality of the game. Many stages have singers in them and this ties in with the music (which I`ll explain soon after.) The actual rolling intro for the game is pleasing for me and I think Atlus/Noise Fatory have done a good job. Overall, not bad so far!
Music is interesting. An understanding of Japanese will help but you can still get the sense of the humour they`re trying to inject. Each theme tries to connect with the characters (obviously) and are sung by the singers in the background. This contributes to the game`s overall feel (somewhat funny, somewhat good.) I think you`ll like the theme that plays when you reach Princess Sissy (though I won`t say what it is. Don`t want to spoil it wink !)
A minor point. It`s a shame that some of the in-game sprites are changed from their character portraits. For example, Keith doesn`t have spiky hair and gloves, Buntaro doesn`t have his shades, Shintaro doesn`t have that dark blue/green colour jacket and his goggles (as far as I can remember anyway.) This usually doesn`t matter if the in-game sprites remain cool (Keith, maybe Buntaro) but it does when they`re considerably different (Shintaro, you know what I`m talking about!) In other words, a bit of a double-edged sword.
Even though I`m skint I`m going to the arcade today to play some more and try some of the other characters out. I saw someone play as Reiji and he looks cool, so maybe I`ll try him out (if I can resist from choosing Olof. I just like the character!) If I can be bothered I`ll post again after some more play but I`ll probably be playing KOF2K2 and GGXX. Sorry!
P.S. Along the way you`ll meet some interesting opponents. I won`t say anything except ROTD cameo.
That`s all for now. Thanks for taking the time to read these impressions! (ありがと ございました :o !)
<small>[ March 22, 2003, 02:16 AM: Message edited by: honeyman ]</small>
Ahem.....Okay, here come the impressions!
I played this in the arcade in Kyoto on Thursday, so my experiences are fairly new. I used the new characters Olof, Buntaro, Shintaro, Hikaru and one of the old characters, Keith.
Olof gets cool points in my book. He reminds me of the tall black guy from the Bruce Lee film: Game of Death. He has a cool laugh and only uses his legs when attacking (or so I thought. Just pull of his max super to see otherwise!) Anyway, he`s caught my attention and I believe I`ll be busing him again soon (nice design Atlus/Noise Factory buttrock !)
Buntaro reminds me of a hyperactive gingerbread man. He`s meant to be a street punk-esque dude, but everytime he does his kickflip I can`t help but make that connection! Also, when he does one of his attacks he screams like Micheal Jackson. Gangsters are meant to sound like Yamazaki, not friggin` Micheal Jackson loco ! Atlus, improve this character please!
Shintaro has the same costume as Buntaro, just a palette change (and some other minor changes.) His moves come off as unispiring for me and this also reflects in his character. Atlus, please make this charcter more interesting
!Hikaru is a potentially good character. A boy (I think) with a cane, I regard the character as a potentially good rival to the main character, Kurara. His weak super is a rip-off of Haomaru`s in SS4, but that doesn`t become a problem. If only his voice wasn`t so high-pitched and squeaky! (He sounds like a she; and a very young she at that!) With some more development this character for me can become quite cool I believe. here`s hoping
!Keith is reminiscent of Billy and Jimmy from ROTD, yet he`s still different enough to be regarded as a good character. He has a cool look, and like Pepe from ROTD, makes overalls look cool buttrock (well at least I think they`re overalls!)
Gameplay is okay. There aren`t so many chances to do massive combos, but I accept that Matrimelee doesn`t attempt to be this way. An annoying thing is that everytime a character gains a super gauge they do like a rage exposion. At this point they are invunerable and if the other character attempts to hit/touch them, they get blown back. It becomes a pain in the arse when fighting Princess Sissy as her moves allow her to gain super gauges at a rapid rate. It slighty hinders play as if matches have a set time limit they will probably end with time out due to this restriction. Slighty annoying, but bearable
.Graphics on special moves could be improved. Round intros, supers and K.O.s are impressive enough and I`m pleased by these. Backgrounds have lots of detail and definitely contribute to the overall quality of the game. Many stages have singers in them and this ties in with the music (which I`ll explain soon after.) The actual rolling intro for the game is pleasing for me and I think Atlus/Noise Fatory have done a good job. Overall, not bad so far!
Music is interesting. An understanding of Japanese will help but you can still get the sense of the humour they`re trying to inject. Each theme tries to connect with the characters (obviously) and are sung by the singers in the background. This contributes to the game`s overall feel (somewhat funny, somewhat good.) I think you`ll like the theme that plays when you reach Princess Sissy (though I won`t say what it is. Don`t want to spoil it wink !)
A minor point. It`s a shame that some of the in-game sprites are changed from their character portraits. For example, Keith doesn`t have spiky hair and gloves, Buntaro doesn`t have his shades, Shintaro doesn`t have that dark blue/green colour jacket and his goggles (as far as I can remember anyway.) This usually doesn`t matter if the in-game sprites remain cool (Keith, maybe Buntaro) but it does when they`re considerably different (Shintaro, you know what I`m talking about!) In other words, a bit of a double-edged sword.
Even though I`m skint I`m going to the arcade today to play some more and try some of the other characters out. I saw someone play as Reiji and he looks cool, so maybe I`ll try him out (if I can resist from choosing Olof. I just like the character!) If I can be bothered I`ll post again after some more play but I`ll probably be playing KOF2K2 and GGXX. Sorry!
P.S. Along the way you`ll meet some interesting opponents. I won`t say anything except ROTD cameo.
That`s all for now. Thanks for taking the time to read these impressions! (ありがと ございました :o !)
<small>[ March 22, 2003, 02:16 AM: Message edited by: honeyman ]</small>
